tom- i couldnt help but notice you mentioned drinking some modelo.. i will mention a few other good mexican beers to try.. i am sure you have had them, or heard of them, but i figure i am at least doing my best to keep the beer thread alive..

stay away from corona, that is the 'coors light' of mexican beer.. very generic.. average

i like sampatico.. only in bottles(all i have ever seen) it is a dark beer, very full flavor. very rich taste.

tecate.. this is the 'budweiser' of mexican beer. hearty, full, and robust.. good sixer for the lake will do anytime.

carte blanche.. this is my beer of choice when in mexico. it goes down smooth, and easy. dont get you too drunk, but thats good when in mexico. and it seperates you from all the tourists who are drinking corona. it isnt great, but not bad either.

and my favorite.. dos equis & tres equis.. stands for 2x's & 3x's. its common in the US, but i still like it. it has a very hearty, thick taste. it has a slightly unpleasant odor when you first open the bottle, but the flavor is fantastic. much like sampatico, just not as sweet.. almost bitter, but not very.. the only difference i can tell between the 2x and 3x, is the 3x seems darker and thicker.. heading toward a guinness texture, but just not that thick. but totally different flavor(reference to guinness for thickness only purposes).. by far my favorite mexican beer. at least of the ones i have tasted.

as you can tell, i am not a professional beer explainer?? i just call it as i taste it. if you havent had any of those, try em.. good range of texas/mexican beer.

I'm going to have to plug my favorite local brew - Penn Gold as I am enjoying one right now. It is a nice and tasty German style lager similar to what you would find in Bavaria. I favor the German lagers over anything else. The Penn Brewery also makes Penn Weizen (great) and Penn Pilsner (okay I guess, if Pilsners are your thing).

If you ever find yourself in Pittsburgh, make a stop at the Penn Brewery for some German beer brewed in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot (the German beer purity law). You can even get a beer there in the large 1 liter glass mugs as in Bavaria. Its reassuring that the owner learned how to make beer in Germany. My German fiancee loves this beer but forever maintains that Kolsch from Cologne is the best in the world. These Germans are very provincial about their beer so I tend to agree with her. : ) I didn't read the entire thread but I would enjoy reading about great places to find beer in other cities. I shall dig back in the thread and maybe I'll learn something new.

I also enjoyed Shiner Bock while living in Texas and beers from a Kalamazoo, Michigan brewery. Can't remember the name right now, however.

Bren & pmbuko (edit), I don't know the code for one of those umlaut thingys so I went with Cologne. Of course, I could have used the latin Colonia but that would have been ridiculous.

holy schnikeys! I just read Ray3's initial post in this thread. The guy is a yinzer! I didn't mention Iron City because, well, I honestly wouldn't wish that stuff on anyone. I buy a case every now and then though. You gotta have a cast iron stomach. And he's right, when tailgating for a Steeler game, not drinking Iron City is punishable by death.

Being new to this forum this is one of the post I have tried to read most. I have been stationed here in Italy for roughly 2 years and Bavarian beer is by far one of my quest..that is to try them all. And having been stationed in the great N.W., now there is a place that also has great beer, just to think of all those micro breweries. But now I have to save all these names of beer that everyone is talking about for I have 2 more weeks and I finally will be back in the US and I can order my Axioms and SVS...been holding off waiting to get back to the States before I ordered, but I have talked to Amie many times in the last 6 months or so and have ordered many samples. But anyway back to the beer I have to say my favorite beer over here is Franziskaner..one of those Bavarian beers. I hear that you can get it in the States but it taste nothing like the .5 litre over here.

tom, recently tried otter creek copper ale, a vermont made brew. it has displaced harpoon in the 'fridge. my vessel of choice is a wine glass. reminds me of a fine woman when i look at it in the wine glass. nice round body, and fine head. my wife appreciates that analogy, yae right.

5) The last is Stoudt's Scarlet Lady, another of my favorites. And I must say that I would rather spend a night this lady with again than some of the other ones I knew in college. (Certainly not all however!)

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[black]-"The further we go and older we grow, the more we know, the less we show."[/black]